Lakshmi Venkata Sonti was born in Visakhapatnam, India, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, on May 8, 1926. Her father, a professor of mathematics, built a house for his wife, two daughters, Rajarajeswari and Lakshmi, and son Venkata, on Godbole Road, only a few streets from the ocean. An independent and active child, she would come home from school, throw down her books, and go to the beach, running down the dunes, splashing in the shallow waves, and watching the fisherfolk bringing in nets of fish. Besides her family, she was blessed by the presence of Soddamma, who worked for them. Soddamma told Lakshmi stories of witches and heroes, listened to her stories of triumphs and woes, and stood up for her against all foes.
Lakshmi was an excellent student and went to college to pursue a degree in biochemistry, entertaining ambitions of becoming a medical doctor. She also excelled as a musician, to such an extent that her veena teacher told her father that she could, if she so chose, become a successful performer on stage.
However, when she was eighteen, she married Krishnamurthy Karamcheti, a graduate in mechanical engineering from Benares Hindu University, where he had roomed with Jogarao, one of Lakshmi's first cousins. Seeing a photograph of her, Krish, as he was known, fell in love, and a marriage was arranged between them.
Their daughter Girija was born on November 7, 1945. Their second daughter, Indira, was born on July 5, 1948. Krish went to the United States on a Ford and Smith-Mundt Fellowships in the early 1950's, and Lakshmi, with her two daughters, took care of her aging parents in the family home. In 1955, when Krish received his Ph.D. in aeronautical engineering from Caltech, his wife and daughters joined him in southern California.
For the next ten years, Lakshmi was a faculty wife, first at the University of Southern California, then at Stanford University, where Krish remained for the majority of his professional life. She took wonderful care of her growing daughters, and maintained an active social and intellectual life.
1967, however, began a remarkable new stage in Lakshmi's life. After Krish and she divorced, she returned to college as an undergraduate, earning a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She again showed herself to be an excellent student, so much so that one of her professors urged her to pursue an advanced degree in folklore. Instead, she chose a more practical route, earning a degree in teaching the deaf and hard of hearing from Monmouth Teacher's College in Oregon. After completion, she accepted a job teaching special needs children at an elementary school in Fontana, California. True to her independent nature, she reveled in her newfound financial self-sufficiency.
After a few years, she returned to school and qualified herself as an audiologist, and worked in that capacity for the remainder of her professional life. She was, in many ways, an exemplar of the immigrant success story, moving from dependence to financial independence and professional stature. She was especially proud that she was able to buy a home several times. Throughout all of these changes, both public and private, she was a stalwart support for her daughters, a bulwark in their changing lives, and a loving constant presence in all their vicissitudes.
After her retirement, both her daughters were blessed that she shared her life with them. From 1990 to 2000, she lived with her younger daughter Indira in Connecticut, then subsequently with her daughter Girija in California. Her grandchildren, Girija's son Alex, and Indira's son Ravi and daughter Gita, were fortunate to have her company throughout their childhoods and into their twenties. During this time, she also travelled independently, flying frequently to India to visit her many cousins and especially her brother, Venkata, her sister-in-law Sarvalakshmi, her niece Manjula, and her nephew Ramesh, his wife Sita, and their sons, Ananth and Sharath. She was particularly glad when her nephew Jagdish, his wife Padma, and their sons Anup and Tarun, settled in California, where she could visit them often.
Lakshmi was an extraordinary woman, possessed of an unusual intellect and curiosity about many things. She was, in Yeats's words, a "pilgrim spirit," eager and willing to learn. Of an inherently skeptical and questioning nature, she enlivened conversation and both feared and welcomed the new. Her life experience taught her an early feminism and a desire to be free from dependence. Her friends enjoyed the liveliness of her mind and the charm of her company. Her family knew that they were the most important things to her, and were graced by her presence in their lives. Their gratitude for her life and their sorrow that she is no more are great.
Lakshmi Venkata Sonti died of heart failure on February 7, 2017 at the age of 90. She is survived by her daughters, Girija and Indira; her sons-in-law, Fred and Ben; her two grandsons, Alex and Ravi; her granddaughter, Gita; her brother, Venkata, sister-in-law Sarvalakshmi, nephew Ramesh and his family, and nephew Jagdish and family, as well as many other relatives of several generations who have known and loved her.

ANTHYA KRIYALU - LAST RITES
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 14, 2017

LAKSHMI VENKATA SONTI
Celebration of Life

12:30 CHAPEL at Berry-Bell & Hall Fallbrook Mortuary
333 N. Vine Fallbrook CA 92028 (760) 728-1689

1:00 ANTHYA KRIYALU - LAST RITES PUJA
Priest Shrikantha Sastri

3:00 DAHANA SAMSKARAMULU - WITNESS CREMATION
Cremation Services, Inc.
2570 Fortune Way #D Vista CA 92081 (760) 727-8906

5:00 DINNER RECEPTION at MANTRA RESTAURANT
27645 Jefferson #106 Temecula CA 92590 (951) 506-1800 Please RSVP (909) 626-891

Accommodations are available at Quality Inn 3135 Old Highway 395 Fallbrook 92028
If you need other information, please call Girija (909) 626-8991 or Fred (909) 560-5168